East Coast Skatepark Roundup
SInce relocating to Washington DC for the northern hemisphere’s autumn season of 2012, I have been on a mission to stay active through the pursuit of ‘the skateboard riding’. Skateboarding is something I have done for many years, but that does not mean that I do it well. I am merely a fan of those four-wheeled virtuosos, trying my best to continually push for more, but also always painfully aware of my level of suck compared to the guys (and gals) who rule these concrete labyrinths.
A good skate bowl is a thing of beauty. Infinite in its opportunities, one is only limited by their own imagination, the size of their balls and their ability to generate speed. I am oh so thankful that I have even my modest ability on these walls of concrete, because I know my life would be much less complete without ever having the opportunity to just come close to the feeling that you can get when you draw a clean line, flow effortlessly across a wall, make contact with the coping; trucks wheels unleashing that satisfying growl of steel on concrete, urethane on tile. If you’ve never experienced it, you’re missing out.
So now with that pathetic, weak ass attempt at hyperbolic prose behind us, let me run down the concrete cathedrals that I have had the pleasure to visit over the past few months.
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1)Powhatan Springs Park, Arlington Virginia
This was the first one I came across over here on the east coast, and boy am I glad this is my ‘go to’ spot. It is just over the bridge from DC in Arlington, so with a car its not too hard to get to, about 30 minutes from Columbia Heights with or without traffic. But what can I say, I love this place. Two half-pipey concrete sections with steel coping spined together with nice bowly transitions that lead in to two proper ‘bowls’ each with nice blue tile and perfectly set pool coping. The smaller one is about 6 ft deep and the other is about 9 ft deep, just enough to be uncomfortably overhead. This place has something for everyone I reckon. The half pipe sections are both small enough to be user friendly and big enough to be as challenging as you want with an infinite amount of lines leading into the deep ends. I can’t say enough. This place is awesome.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
It is free to skate at Trashmore, but you do have to get a ‘Skate Park Pass’. Just show up during business hours, fill out a form and sign your life away. Also, bring a helmet. No helmet, no skate. The place is very well monitored as it is built within a much larger municipal park facility.
2) Green Skate Lab ‘Green Bowl’, Washington DC
A sort of ‘DIY’ skate facility. Apparently made by skaters, for skaters (and BMXers...). It is a funky spot however. I’ll be honest and say I’ve visited twice and still have yet to find a comfortable line. The lips aren’t all that high, but the transitions are steep and the coping is BRUTAL. But hell, the video I’ve seen shows the bros ripping the $h!+ out of it, so it must be be possible. It’s located deep in DC’s north-eastern corner at a public park sort of place. Lots of basketball being played nearby. I did not encounter any other bowl riders on either of my visits.
3) FDR Skatepark, Philadelphia, PA
Now this place is awesome. A national treasure. A completely skater-built labyrinth of concrete amazingness stuffed under 6 lanes of Interstate 95 on the outskirts of Philadelphia. It is just past the airport as you head north on 95 and at the same exit as the football, baseball and hockey stadiums. What could be more appropriate? Look up some video of this spot and the way the locals have it dialed. It is truly amazing. Hidden pockets of power lurk in every corner, revealing themselves only after one’s repeated efforts to unlock their potential to propel board and rider across the broad expanse of (somewhat) smooth concrete. Just see how high you can pump up the side of a freeway support column and revel in that structure’s unintended utility.
4) Stamford Skatepark, Stamford, CT
A beautiful example of well spent municipal funds. Stamford is a wealthy city and gawd damn if they can’t spend a few bucks on a top-notch patch of concrete. I only had an hour or so skating here however, before the local police advised me that I was running afoul of the one rule: “WEAR A HELMET”, so I was never really able to refine my line. But I can see this place having a lot of potential. The shallow end transitions were a bit tight, and the big end was a bit big, but that’s just me being a bitch.
5) Northside Skate Park, Norfolk, VA
I did not skate Northside. I just stopped by to have a look. I was sick; a bit dizzy and running a slight fever, and the park was packed. The bowl looked solid, steel coping, pool coping and lots of tiles. The layout was a bit weird however and I couldn’t really visualize any lines. There were some guy getting a few good hits, but no one seemed to be unlocking its full potential that day. We drove on...
6) Mount Trashmore, Virginia Beach, VA
After Northside, I did suck it up a bit and managed to take a few runs at the world famous Mount Trashmore. I mean, you guys remember Trashmore right? It was all over Thrasher Magazine and the various skate videos of the 80’s. Watch the ‘GATOR’ documentary, the Trashmore contests feature heavily in that story. While I was not skating the same structure as all of those 80’s legends, the place still has some mystique and I had to give it a go. The giant half-pipe is still there (rebuilt a few times since the 80’s I imagine), but now there is also a fairly extensive wood frame/steel coated street course with a very intricately constructed above ground wood/steel bowl. I mostly skated the bowl, but I found it a bit difficult. There is a weird kink on one side and the trannys are tight and fast. Of course some local kids just had it amazingly wired, laying down smooth-as-silk 50-50’s and popping larger than life ollies all over the place.
7) Veterans Park, Woodbridge, VA
The Park at Woodbridge has (apparently) been recently remodeled. Web searches on the place suggest that previously it only featured a single large blue halfpipe. However, a bit more digging reveals that the place was recently rebuilt and now features a nice street course with some bowl-like corners. The real story however is the immense kidney bowl that is dug in to the ground next to the street course. The thing is large. Probably as big as the pro-bowl at the Venice Skate Park in Los Angeles and just as perfect. The concrete is flawless and silky smooth. The entire pool is rimmed with perfectly set pool coping and a solid foot and a half of tiles made up of 20 or so rows of tiny 1-inch ceramic squares. Raking across that warning track unleashes one of the most intensely satisfying sounds in skateboarding. A high-frequency machine-gun burst that really lets you know you are getting close to the lip, it’s really pretty neat. That bowl however was too much for me at this stage in my career. I was able to drop in and get a few lines, even a minuscule frontside grind on one of the mid-size walls, but there was no way I was getting close to the lip on the deep end. We visited Woodbridge on a beautiful, cool Sunday afternoon, so the place was packed, especially the street course. I saw numerous collisions and was even involved in one myself. I also had to enlist the help of another older dude to shoo a bunch of little kids out of the bowl before we could drop in. But yeah, if you are looking from some serious bowl action in the DC area, this is your spot.
MAPS AND DIRECTIONS
Powhatan Springs Park: 6020 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA
Green Skate Lab: 2901 20th St. NE, Washington, DC
FDR Skatepark, Broad St. Exit off I-95, Philadelphia, PA
Stamford Skatepark, in Scalzi Park, Washington Blvd and Bridge St. Stamford, CT
Northside Skatepark, Norfolk, VA: 8401 Tidewater Drive Norfolk, VA 23518
Mount Trashmore, 310 Edwin Drive, Virginia Beach, VA
Veterans Park, 14300 Featherstone Rd. Woodbridge, VA
Keepin’ it patriotic:
FDR sk8park, Philadelphia, USA.